Emily Estey, on March 27, 2018
It's not hard, trust me. So few people do these simple things, but doing them makes you stand out and earn the respect you deserve. If you want to be treated as a professional, someone who is trustworthy and worth an investment of time, do these four easy things and prove it to your prospects and clients.
Emily Estey, on November 9, 2017
I was on the phone with a client the other day who was really struggling with many open seats across his sales teams. He mentioned that his company had tried many different things to entice potential employees, but nothing seemed to be working.
I asked how full the talent bank was and he said, "running on empty." I suggested that he think of recruiting just like prospecting. It’s something that has to constantly be done, time dedicated each week. We tell our salespeople all the time that prospecting for clients is the only way to garner new business.
The same goes for managers. Prospecting for employees is also vital to new business development.
Emily Estey, on October 16, 2017
I recently had a coaching assignment with a highly ambitious salesperson. This person wasn’t prospecting for new business as often or as much as her manager would like. I’d had a few calls with her and given her a few assignments to complete between our calls in the prospecting part of the sales process. Her performance for me (and for her manager) continued to be lackluster. I've done a lot of individualized coaching over the years. Because of the talent interviews my company does, I am privy to the innate talents of everyone I coach. Often times my coaching assignments are to get people to do something they are not currently doing. Prospecting is often at the top of the list.
Emily Estey, on December 29, 2016
Maybe it's because I live in the great Pacific Northwest (the really cold part) that has me thinking about getting traction—both on the road and in sales. I talk a lot about traction when I'm coaching people through the selling process because it is the metric for how we move through the process.
You can tell that you are moving the process forward when you get the traction to turn the wheels to move to the next step. Your prospects are not going to do this for you. You must take the wheel. They aren't going to be doing the contracting and partnering to move to the next step—that responsibility lies squarely on your shoulders. And amazingly it can be as easy as making sure you are at the same stage in the process and agreeing on what the next steps will be.
What does that sound like? How about this… "Thanks for meeting with me today Ms. Decision-maker. I learned a lot about what you do. I'm thinking my next step should be to review the information we've discussed and start to put together some preliminary ideas. I'll then bring those back to you so we can review them together. Would you agree that's the path I should take?"
Without clear contracting, you sit idle or even worse, start sliding out of control.
Emily Estey, on December 15, 2016
I frequently meet with salespeople who are working on creative ways to approach prospects that they're having difficulty getting in front of. One salesperson had a particularly difficult challenge, as she had been trying to get an appointment with a key prospect for over eight months with no success, and all of the traditional methods had been exhausted.
Emily Estey, on November 28, 2016
For those of us who are parents, we know that while we try to help our children avoid mistakes, we also want to give them some leeway to have learning moments of their own. Of course there is a time and a place for learning moments. The same goes for our teams when they are prospecting for new business. We shouldn't allow our newer salespeople as much leeway (like our younger children) as we do our more seasoned veterans (our older children) especially when it comes to prospecting.
Here are 5 tips to help newer sellers determine their best prospects:
Have you seen the movie We Bought a Zoo? It's a good movie and based on a true story. Matt Damon, who stars in the movie and plays Benjamin Mee, is talking to his son about how it only takes 20 seconds of insane courage to make something happen.
Emily Estey, on June 2, 2016
To improve sales performance, remember to switch your hat... and only wear one at a time! Let's talk about the difference between educating and presenting. There is no doubt you are aware of the products, or capabilities, you have to sell. Most of your clients are aware of your "heritage" products, but when it comes to some of the more complex products you are capable of delivering, your clients and prospects need to be educated about what they are and—more importantly—how they can use the products to achieve their business goals.
Emily Estey, on April 18, 2016
I’m a mom. A lot of you are moms and dads as well. I often see parallels between “managing” my family and managing a team of salespeople. I noticed something the other day that I think I’ve noticed before, but hadn't made the association back to managing a team of salespeople until that moment.
